What started out as a rumor in a few ‘rasslin fan rags has become hard news: Mickey Rourke is going to try professional wrestling for real on the grandest stage sports entertainment can muster: Wrestlemania.
A few fan-run wrestling sites reported the rumor originally, but the story took off in earnest when Rourke told Access Hollywood that World Wrestling Entertainment contacted him in hopes of involving him in a match for Wrestlemania XXV this April 5 in Houston.
While the WWE has yet to confirm the offer, multiple reports say the Oscar-nominated star of The Wrestler will face professional grappler Chris Jericho in the squared circle, stipulations to be determined.
Wrestlemania always includes some sort of celebrity gimmick match — like welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. taking on The (450-pound) Big Show last year. Rourke is on a publicity-charged comeback — and he’s no stranger to roughing it up, as he competed as professional boxer years ago. This is a marketing masterstroke so perfect we should have seen it coming.
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